Means for dispensing beverages



Oct. 1, 1935. D STRUTZEL 2,015,765

MEANS FOR DISPENSING BEVERAGES Filed April 15, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 vInventor Oct. 1, 1935. J. D. STRUTZEL MEANS FOR DISPENSING BEVERAGESFiled April 13, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fra i'zel memeio 1.1935

UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE m non DISPENSING BEVERAGES I JohnD.Strutzel, Maywood, m. Application April 13, 1934, Serial No. 720,406-

This invention relates to beverage dispensing and refrigeration andparticularly tothe dispensing of beverages charged with gas wherein itis important to preserve the charge of gas up to the point of deliveryof the beverage to the consumer. The main objectsof this inventlonare toprovide an improved method and apparatus for dispensing beer, havingparticular reference to the condition of the same when it issues fromthe delivery faucets of abar; to provide an improved form andarrangement of auxiliary apparatus interposed between a beer barrel andthe delivery faucets of a bar whereby the pressure conditions of thebeer may be efiectivelycontrolled so as to maintain certain-desirablestandards in the condition of the product and enable the economicaldis-. pensing thereof to be performed even by an inexperienced operator.

Further objects are to provide an improved form of valve mechanism forcontrolling the flow of beer to an auxiliary storage receptacle formaintaining a constant level of the liquid therein and to generallyimprove the structural arrangement of apparatus of this class.

A specific embodiment of this invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 4 is a similar view partly in section andpartly in elevation withthe section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a slightly enlarged fragmentary detail of the inlet valvemechanism. Fig. 6 is a still larger detail illustrating the structure ofthe inlet valve and its stem.

livery faucets.

In the form shown in the drawings the beer'is stored in the basement ofthe building in its original package represented by the barrel I fromwhich it is elevated by air or gas pressure obtained from a suitablesource represented by the gas tank 2.

The compartment 3 represents a. refrigerator in which the product iscooled on its way to the dee In the form shown this refrigerator is ametal lined portion of the bar having a lid 4 and intended for storing aquantityv of cracked ice and water.

Within the refrigerator compartment is an auxiliary receptacle. or tank5 to whichthe present invention mainly relates. V

The apparatus illustrated is designed with the particular thought inview of having most of the apparatus that requires attentionconveniently lo- 5 cated with respectto the beer dispensing faucetsshown at 6, I, and 8 on the rear face of the bar.

'To this end the pipe 9 from the gas' supply tank is connected to afitting l0 associated with a pressure control valve H controlling theflow of gas 10 to the pipe l2 leading to the barrel I, and having alsoassociated with it a pressure gauge I 3 and a cut-off valve Hi. Thepressure gauge I 3 enables the operator at the bar to visually check thegas pressure in the barrel l. The fitting I0 is also provided with apressure control valve l5 and a cutofi valve l6 controlling the supplyof gas through the pipe I1 to the receptacle 5.

A pipe l8 also communicating with the interior of the receptacle 5 atthe top leads to a pressure gauge l9 and blow-01f valve 20 preferablylocated on the rear face of the bar adjacent to the dispensing faucets.The pressure regulating valves II and I5 are of well known construction,andin general public use, and are therefore not illustrated or describedin detail.

The beer is drawn fromthe bottom of the barrel by means of a pipe 2|,which communicates with a coil 22, which is wrapped around the exteriorof the receptacle 5 and which terminates in an inlet fitting 23 whichhas a passage 24 that serves as the inlet for the receptacle 5 and whichinlet is located at an elevation above the bottom of the receptacle 5which to give the best results should be about one-fourth of the normaldepth of liquid in said receptacle. Within the fitting 23 at the outerend of the inlet passage 24 the passage is enlarged to provide a seat 25having agasket 26 against which a disc valve 21 seats. This valve asillustrated in Fig. 6 is loosely swingable upon a pair of pins 28 whichare spaced apart horizontally so that the valve normally assumes anexactly centered position with respect to the seat 25. The valve isnormally urged into firm contact with its seat by a helicoidal conicalspring 29 which fits over and is welded to a stud 30 on the valve 21 andalso bears against a closure disc 3| which is held in place by a collar32 screwed into the fitting 23. The fitting 23 is also provided with anair chamber 33 which prevents water hammer or other disturbance of thevalve 21. As shown in Fig. 6 the face of the valve 21 is chamfered atits peripheral margin 34 so that it rocks rather freely on the pins 28,but there is a sufflcient plane area inward of the margin 34 to insureproper seating of the valve.

The stem 35 of the valve 21 extends through the inlet passage 24 andacross the interior of the receptacle 5 and is inclined upwardly from ahorizontal position when the valve is seated as shown in Fig. 5.

Within the receptacle 5 there is a float 36 which has a depending hollowstem 31 that telescopes with a rod 38 centrally fixed in the bottom ofthe receptacle 5 so as to guide the movements of the float 36. Fixed onthe stem 31 is a disc 39 which coacts with the stem 35 for swinging theA valve 21. The object of inclining the valve stem 35 upward is to causeit to engage the disc 39 at its extreme end whereby the disc and floatwill exert a maximum leverage initially to force the valve ofl of itsseat, and a slight further downward movement of the disc 39 causes it toengage the stem 35 at a point much nearer the valve 21, as illustratedin Fig. 3, so that the movement of the valve becomes more rapid fromthat point on with respect to the movement of the float.

The outlet 40 for the receptacle 5 is at its bottom, as may be best seenfrom Fig. 4, and this outlet has two branches connecting with pipes 4|and 42 which lead upward along the sides of the receptacle 5, and areprovided with valves 43 at their upper ends in convenient location foroperation from the top of the refrigerator compartment. These valves areconnected by pipes 44 to the faucets 6 and I. A third pipe 45 leadsdirectly from the fitting 23 to the faucet 8.

The upper end of the receptacle 5 is closed by means of a head 46 whichis held in place against a gasket 41 by means of a threaded collar 48provided with spanner notches 49 which gives access to the interior forcleaning operations.-

Also to facilitate cleaning the head 46 carries a spray nozzle 50connected with suitable water supply by the pipe 5|, and controlled by avalve 52. The bottom of the receptacle 5 is suitably inclined forperfect drainage into the fitting 40.

The operation of the device shown is as follows:

The liquid level within the receptacle 5 is maintained substantiallyconstant by means of the float 36 because the capacity of the receptacle5 is large compared with the capacity of the glasses that are filled atthe dispensing faucets 6, I, and 8, and inasmuch as the pressure of gasin the receptacle 5 is but slightly lessthan the pressure of gas in thebarrel I, the beer will flow from the barrel I to the receptacle 5 witha minimum of agitation, such as might tend to release its'gaseouscontent. 7

Similarly, the fact that the inlet 24 is well below thesurface of theliquid receptacle 5 and also above the bottom, serves to cause theliquid to enter the receptacle 5 without creating foam forming eddies ordisturbing the flow of liquid passing out of the outlet 40 to thedispensing nozzles I and 6. The gas'pressure in the receptacle 50prevents the loss of gaseous content of the beer that is stored ,thereinduring intervals between the operations of the faucets 6 and I.

By means of this apparatus it is possible to control the pressures so asto produce any desired amount of foam in the receptacles that are fed bythe faucets 6 and I so that each glass will have exactly the desiredamount of bead, and will not have the excessive overflow that requiresthe bar tender to waste a large percentage of the product by sweepingthe foam off of the top of the glass.

different barrels.

It is customary to clean the apparatus thor- 5 oughly after thedispensing of each barrel of the product. With the apparatus hereinshown this operation is especially facilitated as it is merely necessaryfor the operator to open the spray valve 52 and allow the water to runthrough the ap- 10 paratus and faucets by opening suitable valves todirect the water first through the faucets and then through the inletconnections to the basement.

After-rinsing in this fashion, the head 46 may 15 be removed from thereceptacle and the float lifted out and washed and the interior of thereceptacle 5 may be scrubbed.

The mounting of the valve 21 is particularly advantageous in a device ofthis kind, because 20 there is no danger of the valve or its stembecoming injured during such cleaning operations since the valve yieldsreadily and allows the stem to be moved in any direction, and isreturned to its normal position by the spring 29. 5 By reason of thefact that the gasket 26 is in a vertical plane no grit or sediment ofany kind can come to rest on its face. For like reason it isadvantageous to swing the valve from above so that its face is eithervertical or slanting and 30 no particle of grit can lodge on it andanything falling from it would clear both the valve and its gasket.

After the scrubbing operations the float 36 is returned to its place bytelescoping the stem 31 35 with the rod 38. The head 46 is replaced,fresh rinsing water is passed through the apparatus by out by means ofgas or air pressure from the pipe 40 I1, and the apparatus is then readyfor connection to a new barrel.

It is desirable to use carbon dioxide gas as a pressure medium in boththe receptacle 5 and in barrel l, but any other inert gas or air willserve 45 the purpose and I do not wish the fact that I have illustratedboth these gas bodies supplied from a common source to be construed asimplying a limitation to such arrangement.

Although but one specific embodiment of this 50 invention is hereinshown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of theconstruction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from thespirit of my invention, as defined by the following claims:

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a vertically disposed valve seat,a pair of studs spaced apart horizontally adjacent the upper part ofsaid seat, a valve swingably mounted on said studs at the 60 inlet sideof said seat, and having a stem extending through said seat, and a floathaving a disc coacting with said stem to tilt said valve, said stembeing upwardly inclined, and said disc and stem having camming relationto each other for 55 engagement first at a distant point and then at apoint nearer to said valve within the range of said stem, foraccelerating the rate of movement of said valve with respect to the rateof movement'of said float after the valve opens.

2. In a device of the class described, a receptacle having an outletconnection at the bottom and having a horizontally dsposed inlet in oneside above the bottom, a valve seat surrounding the outer end of saidinlet, a valve swingably sus-- pended adjacent the top of said seat andnormally urged into contact with said seat, for closing said inlet, astem extending from said valve through said inlet and having a portionthereof within said receptacle that is upwardly inclined when said valveis closed, a float in said receptacle positioned above said stem andhaving a horizontally disposed member positioned to engage said stemwhen the level of the liquid supporting said float falls below aprede'termiend height, said float having a depending tubular extension,and a rod telescoping with said tubular extension for guiding thevertical movement of said float.

3. In a device of the class described a receptacle having an outletconnection at the bottom and having a horizontally disposed inlet in oneside above the bottom, a valve seat surrounding the outer end 01' saidinlet, a valve swingably suspended adjacent the top of said seat andnormally urged into contact with said seat for closing said inlet, astem extending from said valve through said inlet and having a portionthereof within said receptacle that is upwardly inclined when said valveis closed, a float in said receptacle positioned above said stem andhaving a horizontally disposed member positioned to engage said stemwhen the level of the liquid supporting 10 sion being adapted to stopthe downward move- 15 ment of said float at a point above the lowerlimit of movement of said valve stem.

JOHN D. S'I'RU'I'ZEL.

